Bomber Brown reveals love affair with West Bromwich Albion

Jun 14 2009 by Robert Tanner, Sunday Mercury

Brown admits it was love at first sight when he first walked into The Hawthorns, and he knew immediately it was the place he wanted to play, although he never thought he would spend almost his entire career with Albion.

“Manchester City were after me as a schoolboy and I had agreed to join them but then Albion asked me to come down,” he said.

“I felt comfortable as soon as I walked in and I felt like this is the place I wanted to play my football.

“When you sign for a club you don’t know how long you are going to stay. I didn’t even know I was going to be signed as a professional!

“We had a change of manager and Archie Macauley left and Jimmy Hagan signed me as a professional straight away. It all went from there.

“I had 20 years with the club but I loved every minute of it.”

Brown admits he never came close to leaving Albion throughout all that time, which included the FA Cup success of 1968 and the League Cup win two years before, as well as playing in two more League Cup finals.

“It wasn’t like today back then, there wasn’t the money flying around,” he recalled.

“I enjoyed going to training every day and when you are happy why would you leave?

“I never knew if a club had come in for me but after I stopped playing I used to pop round and see Alan Ashman (manager 1967-71) and he told me there were a few clubs after me but it wouldn’t have made a difference. I was scoring goals and was happy.

“I was a goalscorer and there was no greater thrill than putting the ball in the back of the net. It is an unbelievable feeling.

“We had some bad times as well though. We were relegated in 1973 under Don Howe but I never thought of leaving.”

Those memories of relegation must have come flooding back for Brown as he watched the current crop fail to retain their Premier League status, but he believes they have what it takes to bounce back at the first attempt.

“All the opposition managers have been praising Albion for the way they play,” he said.

“They do play some good football and it has been entertaining.

“But unfortunately they just weren’t good enough over 38 games. They didn’t have the consistency.

“It is a young squad and at times they defended poorly and gave away too many sloppy goals. And when you are struggling to score goals as well, then it doubles your problems.

“But Albion do have the squad capable of bouncing back.”